If Nancy Drew...

...had Google, the books would be much shorter.

It's kinda scary how easy it is to find things out about people.  As a former auditor, I have a very inquiring mind.  And I know how to find information.  I have a few tricks.  In keeping with the cloak and dagger thang, I won't reveal them all, but let's just say, I do my homework.

I will share one, though.  Because I'm so sick and tired of so-called Customer Service Representatives.  They call themselves CSRs for short.  They should be called SNSs.  See n' Say.  Except, instead of saying, "This is a duck.  Quack, Quack.", they say, "Thank you Ms. Mispronounced Last Name, I'm sorry you are having trouble with your (inferior) product today. "  If the CSR is in another continent, I usually have to say,"Pardon me?" at least three times.

I'm not a bigot by any means, but when I'm frustrated, I don't want to tell my story more than five times.  And when the person I'm talking to sounds like they moonlight on weatherband radio, I figure I'm not going to get anywhere.  Once I told the woman that I couldn't understand her and that I'd like to be transferred to a North American representative, and she said, "What part of 'How can I help you?' don't you understand?"  Hmmm.  Reckon that was in the script?  Also, why is it that these CSRs with exotic accents have such humdrum names?  How many Michaels and Amandas can there be in South Asia?

Oh, my point was, if you want to get through to the executive offices of a big corporation, go to the SEC website.  That's Securities and Exchange Commission, not Southeastern Conference.  Look for their 10K, and you'll see a phone number on the first page or two.  Call it.  You probably won't have to go through a 15-step phone tree.  And you're about a thousand times more likely to get results (and avoid going postal), if you can avoid getting caught in the insidious customer service web like a helpless fly.  If you're really mad, find the CEO's name on the 10K, ask for him, and tell his assistant you're his mistress and you need to get through.  Desperate times call for desperate measures...

Oh, well.  I digress.  Let's just say that I'm beginning a new adventure.  About which, I'm going to be very cryptic.  In keeping with my alter-ego.  Nancy.

More later.  Maybe...